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Filmmaker's Decade-Long Journey: A Surrogate Mother's Story
5 May
Summary
- Documentary captures a decade in a surrogate mother's life.
- Focuses on a mother's sacrifice for her child's well-being.
- Explores surrogacy, motherhood, and inequality in Georgia.
For ten years, filmmaker Ketevan Vashagashvili documented the life of a Georgian woman named Zhana, who worked as a surrogate mother to provide for her daughter. Vashagashvili's debut feature documentary, '9-Month Contract,' recently earned an award at the Alternativa Film Festival in Medellín, Colombia.
The film delves into Zhana's profound sacrifice, driven by unconditional love for her child. It exposes the challenges she faced, including homelessness, stigma, and difficult clients, while carrying multiple pregnancies to term.
'9-Month Contract' critically examines motherhood, the commodification of women's bodies, and homelessness within contemporary Georgian society. It highlights how conflicting laws and societal inequalities deeply affect women's personal decisions and lives in the global south.
Vashagashvili's ongoing interest in women's issues, including her short film 'Online Mother,' converged with Zhana's resonant story. The documentary is slated for a theatrical release in Georgia in May.
